I have to admit I wouldn’t have remembered that yesterday, Jan. 7, was the anniversary of my blog if not for Kevin Tipple’s comment on Facebook. He said, “21 Years! Lesa’s Blog is now LEGAL! Buy it and her a drink!” Twenty-one years. I’ve been writing this blog that long. For those of you who weren’t around then (really only family at that time), I started the blog just a few months after I started as branch librarian at the Velma Teague Library in Glendale, Arizona. My boss, Rodeane Widom, sent me to a three-day workshop sponsored by the Arizona State Library. I told her later I didn’t learn much there, but I did learn how to blog. I’m so glad I did, or I wouldn’t have all of you as friends here. Thank you for being with me, some of you almost that long.
Here’s a blog reminder. Jeff Meyerson’s Favorite Books of 2025 will be up tomorrow. I’m sure he’s back in his winter home in Florida, enjoying the temperatures while still reading.
It’s been better weather here this week, a little warmer with some rain. I even took my poor car through the car wash. It needed it after driving back from Mom’s on country roads while it was snowing.
I went to Linda and Kevin’s for dinner last night, Shepherd’s pie, one of my favorites. Then she and I went to see “Back to the Future: The Musical.” It was so much fun! The special effects, especially with the car, were fantastic. We really enjoyed it.
I’m just starting John McMahon’s Inside Man: A Head Cases Novel, the second in the series. I know Kevin Tipple has already read it, so he can undoubtedly tell you more about it than I can.
Here’s the quick blurb from Amazon. “FBI’s Patterns and Recognition unit investigates a militia case that leads to uncovering a potential serial killer in Florida. Book 2 of “Head Cases” series.”
That’s all I really know.
What about you? What are you reading this week?
And, don’t forget to stop in and see Jeff’s list tomorrow.
Lesa, I am amazed that you started blogging 21 years ago. I am glad you started the blog too. Congratulations!
I am not going to have much time tomorrow for anything on Thursday but getting ready for an overnight guest who arrives in the afternoon, so I may have to catch up on two weeks of reading the next Thursday.
Glen had an annual doctor visit today (Wednesday) and the doctor says he is in generally good health. He will be working on improving his blood pressure and we will both be walking more.
I’m glad Glen’s health is pretty good, Tracy. It’s nice to have someone to walk with.
Yes, 21 years. And, I’ve enjoyed it. Best of all has been the people I’ve met here.
Lesa! Wow! 21 years of writing your blog. Congratulations. I’m so glad you’re here. My life – personal and reading – have been immeasurably enriched because of you and the community you’ve built. Thank you!
Not to complain or anything but the new year has gotten off to a rocky start around here. Briefly, doctor sent me to emergency, where I was in the hospital for nine hours on New Year’s Day (suspected blood clot in the leg and I had very high blood pressure). All sorts of tests; had three ECGs in a day and a half, and numerous blood tests. Needed an ultrasound of the leg but that department was closed for the holiday (why?!) so went back the next day and had to wait for another three hours for results. The good news was there was no blood clot, so I shall live another day. Hooray!
This week I read:
A CASE OF LIFE AND LIMB by Sally Smith
The second book in ‘The Trials of Gabriel Ward’ series (the first is ‘A Case of Mice and Murder’).
I loved, loved, loved this book. Even though it’s the first book I’ve read this year, I already know it will be on my favourites list for 2026. It took me twenty minutes to read the first ten pages because I kept going back to reread lines and paragraphs just for the deliciousness of the writing, and for being so skillfully and immediately drawn back into the world of Sir Gabriel KC, a senior lawyer and King’s Counsel member in The Inner Temple in 1901 London.
In the first book we were introduced to Gabriel, a well-respected lawyer and fearsome opponent at trial, always focussed on his work for upcoming trials, fond of his solitude, unworldly, and known for his quirky ways – which others tolerated because of his inoffensiveness, decency, and for always getting the job done. He was reluctantly drawn into a case after the Master Treasurer asked him to make discreet enquiries (in order to ‘hush things up’) after the Chief Lord Justice was found murdered.
In this second book Gabriel is once again drawn into a case against his will. He’s already working on a difficult case for the upcoming trial of Topsy Tillotson – a famous and popular music hall star – after the local tabloid newspaper dragged her reputation through the mud. He doesn’t have much chance of winning and besides that, he’s been asked to make discreet enquiries once again after one of the Temple residents receives a parcel at Christmas containing a severed hand of all things, accompanied by a note. And it’s only the first such parcel to be received by Temple residents.
Every character in the book is vividly drawn, young Constable Wright is back and he’s a delight, and poor Gabriel is encountering feelings and emotions within himself as the cases progress; he who likes nothing more than to keep himself to himself. I really liked the first book and this one is even better.
OFF MENU by Amy Rosen
I’m going to be a bit critical of this book.
It’s written as a series of diary entries which normally I rather like but this read more like an episodic novel; just events that happened, separated by dates. But there was too much dialogue and narrative to be realistic as diary entries.
I loved the idea of it – Ruthie works in a thankless dead-end job and keeps thinking back to a vacation she had in Thailand where she had a fun time with Dean, a man she met there but who hasn’t been in touch since. She’s feeling stuck, and then her much loved grandma dies and leaves Ruthie a $62,000 inheritance. While missing her grandma, as well as the loving, wise advice her grandma always dispensed, she decides to use part of the money to enroll in a French culinary school since she’s always enjoyed cooking. She meets Jeff there and the two of them seem to hit it off – the story had a lot of potential to be an amusing rom-com with entertaining anecdotes from the foodie world, centered as it was around food, cooking school, and restaurants.
I enjoyed the scenes and lessons within the culinary school. And I liked the strong friendship Ruthie had with her two best friends and how the three of them were always there for each other.
But I can’t say I liked any of the characters much, and Ruthie seemed quite self-centered. There was lots of romantic drama but it all felt curiously empty of emotion. There was also a fair amount of off-putting language that wasn’t necessary and didn’t add anything to the story. Still, it got a starred review from Library Journal so maybe I just wasn’t the right reader for the book.
The author has written seven cookbooks, and several articles for various respected publications such as Food & Wine, and Bon Appétit.
Lindy, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ve been spending too much time reading Kevin Tipple’s posts, but A Case of Life and Limb seems appropriate after your health issues. Anyways, what a lousy start to the year. I hope you’re okay now! I have the first book in that series sitting on my table. I bought it right around publication, and I just never picked it up.
Take care of yourself! You’ve become an important part of this little book community.
That is no way to start the new year Lindy! Hoping for better days ahead! I’m glad that they didn’t find anything concerning.
Oh no Lindy, how horrible for you. I’m so glad the hospital couldn’t find anything in the end – but as you say, why on earth would an ultrasound department be closed, holiday or no holiday? And that’s a long time to be kept hanging around waiting.
My husband had a lot of tests before Christmas. Every single result was absolutely fine, but the ECG needed to be repeated because the nurse had not placed the electrodes properly. So he had another ECG the day before we left for Edinburgh. We were sitting in one of our favourite tea rooms outside Perth, ie half way through our journey, when the nurse called and said they needed to repeat the ECG urgently. You can imagine the worry that caused. By then David had had no symptoms of anything at all for over a month, so in the end the nurse agreed that we could continue to Edinburgh on the basis that we went to A & E immediately if he had chest pains, etc.
He had no symptoms right over the holiday, but the worry did somewhat dampen our mood! Then he went back after Christmas, the test was repeated and showed absolutely nothing at all. We think it was a virus. Our son (who works for the ambulance service) said that during and after the pandemic many people had abnormal ECG results, most of which resolved by themselves in time. I don’t think David had had Covid, but he did have some sort of virus in Novemebr. Anyway, all good now! We are of course glad that the nurse was so conscientious, but it was a slightly stressful week.
So i can imagine how worrying it must’ve been for you and your husband when you had a suspected clot. I am so very glad you will live another day – hopefully lots and lots of them!
I thought OFF MENU sounded quite interesting, but your review makes it clear that it would not be for me any more than it was for you. I need at least one or two characters I like in a book. Lucy Foley’s much acclaimed THE HUNTING PARTY was like that for me – I just found every single character unpleasant and, even worse, simply boring.
Yikes Rosemary! I’m glad your husband is fine. Stressful indeed, and especially because you weren’t near home when you got that call for the urgent ECG!
Lindy, been there, done that with a long stay in the ER, most recently after the anesthesia made me sick from my cataract surgery. Take it easy for a while.
That does not sound pleasant at all Jeff. The cataract surgery is enough all by itself without any complications!
Good morning, Lindy. I’m so happy to see your review of A Case of Life and Limb. I read the first in the series and really enjoyed it, then forgot about the fact that a second was coming. I just put it on hold at the library–thank you!
I’m sorry you had medical troubles during the holidays, and I’m glad it worked out OK for you. Happy New Year!
Can’t wait to see if you like this second book as much as I did Margie.
Lindy, I am glad you are ok but dismayed at the callous way the medical system treated you. Thank goodness for good books!
Thanks Trisha. Almost all the medical personnel I saw at the hospital were very kind to me, so there was that. They deal with so many people that I don’t know how they can summon up kindness and yet most of them do. It all just took such a long time. Bad time of year to have to go to the hospital I think.
Happy 21 years of blogging! I don’t remember what year I came upon your blog–it has been many years of discovering authors and books. Thank you!
Thank you, Bonnie. I don’t remember when anyone stopped by the first time. I’m just happy you continued to come back. Thank you!
Wow! 21 years! That’s amazing in this day and age. Congratulations!
This week I read:
Second son by Simon Gervais; A wine sommelier is on the vengenace trail when he happens to be in the way as one team of thugs tries to kidnap a congresswoman at the same time another team of miscreants tries to assassinate her. Luckily he just happens to be spec ops guy. To be honest, the stuff about the wine was the most interesting part of the book, even with some effective action sequences.
Shadow Affairs by Matthias Hues; The B movie actor turns a scenario into a novel, probably originally for Dolph Lundgren. It’s the usual stuff about a spec ops guy, but the beginning is pretty strange.
The Curse of the Esmerelda by Julien Rapp; Dreadlow is on the case, even though there doesn’t really appear to be a case, as a man is reported missing…maybe. From there, things percolate, and the subplots chug along, even though everything seems way too easy for these people.
Snow Shark by Brian B. Berry; A shark is somehow genetically engineered to swim in the snow. Of course, it is somehow released next to a ski lodge.You don’t have to worry about the yellow snow, because it’s all red in this book!
Thanks, Glen! And, thank you for all the years of somewhat snarky book reviews. I always look forward to your contributions. You review so many books I’ve never heard of.
21 years! That’s wonderful.
And now that the holidays are over, maybe I won’t be thrown completely thrown off. I don’t know why I couldn’t get on the “what are you reading” schedule the last couple of weeks.
I’m fighting off the remains of this cold. It’s hit me harder this week than last week for some reason. Hoping I can shake it soon. Might help if I were in bed like I’d originally planned.
I’m currently reading DEATH OF THE PARTY by Carolyn Hart. Normally, I listen to the audiobooks of this series via the library, but none of the four libraries I had access to had it in audio. So, I found my hardcover in the condo (a minor miracle). I’m about 2/3 of the way through and enjoying it. Hoping to finish it on Thursday.
Mark, I hope you feel better soon. If it’s not the flu, people seem to have a long-lingering cold this year.
Carolyn Hart! I always enjoyed her books. I haven’t heard anything from her in a few years. I know she’s around 90. I hope she’s doing okay. She spoke at Velma Teague once. It was such an honor to host her.
Wow, 21 years. Congratulations.
This week I read:
The Unlucky Mister Locke by Kristen Painter. A paranormal romance set in the magical town of Shadowvale where the main characters are both cursed.
Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee-Hye. Translated from South Korean, the book contains several stories that are all set around the book kitchen, a combination book shop, cafe and B&B set up to nourish the souls of people in need. I just never really connected with this one.
Man One by Loren D. Estleman. A dame walks into a P.I.’s office. This reminds me of the P.I. novels of the 20s & 30s even though it’s set in modern day Detroit. I apparently started the series at book 33 but it worked well as a stand alone read.
Well, darn, Sandy. I had high hopes for Soyangri Book Kitchen, but I guess I won’t read it now. The summary made it sound interesting.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read one of Loren Estleman’s novels.
I love the Valentino series, a film detective and UCLA film archivist, contemporary but now 20 years ago.
So glad you started this blog. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you and learn about the books you share. Happy Anniversary!
Thank you, Leeza! I hope you drop in regularly!
Good morning, all. We are indeed in Florida – arrived on Tuesday – and we’re enjoying the near 80 degree heat and sunshine we had yesterday. What a difference! I’m glad Lesa is sharing my Favorite Books list tomorrow, and I hope it gives you some ideas for future reading.
Speaking of reading, I have had very little time this week. Thursday and Friday were mostly spent packing, we were on the road for four (pleasant) days, and since we got here we’ve been unpacking and shopping, stocking up on food. I hope I have lots more reading time in the weeks ahead, especially since several library books have come in for each of us and we need to get reading before they have to go back.
I know Jackie has several books on hand, but her current reding is Deanna Raybourn’s KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS, the sequel to KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE.
I did finish my short story collection, John M. Floyd’s River Road and Other Mystery Stories. Most of these are stories about his Sheriff and private investigator characters, though there are a few non-series, even historical, cases. Pretty good overall and I would consider looking for one of his other collections. Crippen & Landru also sends subscribers a free chapbook occasionally, including at Christmas, and this year I got (and read) another by Floyd, “The Brody Bunch.”
Also read was another novella (which has recently been turned into a well reviewed movie), Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams. I’ve read a couple of his other books, including the classic JESUS’ SON and TREE OF SMOKE.
If you’ve read the memoirs of loss by Joan Didion (THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING) or Joyce Carol Oates (A WIDOW’S STORY), you might be interested (as I was) in Australian-born journalist and novelist Geraldine Brooks’s memoir, Memorial Days: A Memoir. On Memorial Day weekend in 2019, Brooks was home on Martha’s Vineyard when she got a call that her husband, journalist and fitness fanatic Tony Horwitz, dropped dead at 60 while on a book tour. The book alternates between her actions that weekend, and four years later, when she revisits the remote Flinders Island off Tasmania, Australia, where she and Tony had gone years before. I’m halfway through and it’s very good so far.
Good morning, Jeff. Enjoy the weather. I hope you have glorious days the entire time. you’re in Florida. I’m sure you’ll find more time to read in the coming weeks.
I remember when Tony Horwitz died. I read Confederates in the Attic, but none of his other books, although I read articles he wrote from time to time. I may have to pick up Memorial Days.
Thank you for your wonderful contributions here over the years.
Jeff- I did read Carol Oates book and it was very good. I think that it is very therapeutic to write about the events that took place in their lives during the loss of a spouse. I remember Carol O congratulating herself for making it through the 1st year of being a widow – one of the toughest years of her life. Somehow life goes on.
Congratulations on 21 years of blogging, Lesa. I rarely comment but read your blog every day and have learned of so many great reads. I appreciate everyone’s contributions, too.
Thank you, Ann. Like you, I appreciate the comments other readers make here. I’m glad Jeff originally suggested what became Thursdays at Lesa’s. Thursdays have really drawn readers together.
PS – Congratulations on 21 years. Amazing longevity. And so glad my suggestion of a weekly What Are You Reading day has worked out so well.
Jeff, Your suggestion made that day the highlight of the week. Thank you!
Happy Anniversary, Lesa! I had no idea that you have been blogging for 21 years – you were a pioneer! I am in awe! Thank you for keeping it going – I know that we all so enjoy and appreciate this community.
This past week I finally made myself get my first shingles shot. I felt pretty bad the first 24 hours, but then I recovered. One down, one to go!
I also wanted to do a PSA here. My trainer’s carbon monoxide unit woke her up two nights ago and she couldn’t get it to shut off. She called 911 who sent the fire department over. Her house, and garage, were filled with carbon monoxide. Turns out that there is a crack in the 25 year old furnace. It definitely saved her life. I hadn’t checked on my units in ages! Please, if you haven’t either, take some time this weekend to make sure that they are still working. If they are over 8 years old, get them replaced (mine are, and I am replacing them).
This past week I listened to the audio of “Say You’ll Remember Me” by Abby Jimenez. This is basically a boy meets girl story where the boy and girl are doomed to not be able to be together, in this case because he has a vet practice in Minnesota and she has a mother with dementia in California that she is taking care of. There is a lot of repetitive longing for each other type dialogue, but unlike some other books where I can’t stand this type of reiteration, I didn’t mind it so much in this case because both characters were likable, and the story line enjoyable. I always enjoy Abby Jimenez books.
Thank you, Mary, but even more so for the PSA. Fixing the furnace won’t be cheap, but your mother is alive. Those devices can save lives!
Abby Jimenez is on my sister’s must read list.
I got my shingles shot last week too! The first 24 hours weren’t fun but after that it was just a sore arm
Mary, good call on the shingles shot. My mother had it twice ( before vaccines were available), and believe me, you don’t want it. We got the original shot, then a year or so later the two shot “senior ” vaccine came out and we got that too.
What a relief.
Jeff- I’ve heard that it is a horrible thing to get, so this seems like a simple thing to do to prevent it. I’ve put it off because I knew that I would be sick from it and I needed to find a window where I had a day to recover!
Good morning, all. And Lesa, congratulations on 21 years with the blog! I treasure the times at LCC where we got to spend some in-person time in 2014 (Monterey) and 2016 (Phoenix). And, of course, reading your blog and participating on Thursdays is a must-do every morning after I get up. Thank you for starting my days with pleasure.
After two weeks of no card games and no Toastmasters, it was nice to be able to go back to my usual routine this week. Here are the books I read:
In Jenn McKinlay’s WITCHES OF DUBIOUS ORIGIN, teenage Zoe promised her mother she would never practice the witchcraft that ultimately resulted in the deaths of both her mother and her grandmother. But later in her quiet life as a New England librarian, she receives a mysterious, anonymously delivered book that seems to be calling to her. So she seeks out the experts at the Museum of Literature and their collection of Books of Dubious Origin and learns that the book may be a grimoire that holds and protects her family’s valuable spells and secrets. If she can only figure out how to unlock it, it may help her to assist an undead woman who claims Zoe’s grandmother brought her back from the dead against her will, trapping her in the living world. But Zoe never expects to be confronted by menacing ghouls, Vikings, and ghost pirates in the process. This cozy fantasy is entertaining from beginning to end, including raucous action scenes, clever repartee, and quirky characters, told with a light touch and humor. I wouldn’t call it a romance, but the presence of a handsome mage who is drawn to Zoe, and she to him, seems to indicate this book may be the first in a series. This is new territory for this prolific writer, so it will be interesting to see how she follows it up.
Debbie Johnson, whose feel-good novels are comfort reads for me, also writes standalones that are somewhat darker, but also demonstrate her exceptional storytelling skills. THE A TO Z OF EVERYTHING is one such example, to be published for the first time in the United States in March 2026. Andrea had a satisfying career as a professional actress, although never to the level of winning the most prestigious awards. She was also a dedicated, loving mother to Rose and Poppy and cherished their time together as a tight unit of three. But when the girls were in their early twenties, they split up after a deeply-felt betrayal and have not seen each other for 17 years. Now, as Andrea faces imminent death from a terminal disease, she is determined to bring her daughters back together. with the help of a longtime male friend and a list of 26 (A-Z) tasks for them to take on together after her demise. Some of the tasks are as simple as listening to a favorite song together or looking at photographs, others require some travel, visiting each other’s homes in Liverpool and London, and one suggests they decide whether to find their father, whom Andrea has never named. It is a whirlwind of tears, resistance, and ultimately soul searching as the now-middle-aged sisters realize there are worlds available to them that they never dreamed possible, and family that can help them get there. I think 26 tasks were too many, although some of them were fun to watch. Much of it was depressing, and it wasn’t my favorite Debbie Johnson book, but the outcomes were worth waiting for. (March)
Margie, When I talk with family, I sometimes mention those LCC meet-ups. I’m so glad we had those opportunities to meet in person.
I wanted to mention Highland cows after you told me last year was your Highland cows year. Mine, too. I bought an address book for my mom with one on the cover. My sister, Linda, bought me a stuffed one (George, after a Scottish singer), and this Christmas she brave me placemats with them on them. They’re so adorable!
Jenn says she’s already submitted the second one in her witches series to her editor.
Lesa, I’m going to reply to your message on Facebook about Highland cows and accessories, so I can include a couple of photos of mine. I’ll have to look for that address book, as mine is so old with lots of crossouts, new addresses, etc. Little bitty, long-haired, adorable coos forever! They make me smile.
Hi, everyone, and happy anniversary, Lesa! Thank you for creating and maintaining this online space to talk about good books. This week I read THE GOODE GIRLS OF MAPLE LANE by Jacqueline Firkins, which I heard about here. This very sweet story is about a Cornell vet student, weighed down by debt and grief, who suddenly adopts a rescue dog in need of significant care because of mistreatment throughout the dog’s life. I enjoyed the geography of Ithaca and the exploration of the ways we need, and have to work to create, community, not to mention the new lives of our protagonists, the Goode girls.
I seem to be on a long fantasy book kick, although this one was more mysterious than what we normally consider fantasy. THE BOOK OF LOVE by Kelly Link as a whole was pretty mysterious. Three Massachusetts teenagers and a stranger seem to have come back from the dead when they appear in their music teacher’s classroom one night. Their music teacher (who had seemed normal and even a little boring) instructs them on magic and what they must do to stay in the world of the living. Their families had been grieving, and now they are not, except for Susannah, who kind of has a grief hangover for her sister Laura and might have been involved in what happened to the others. The writer takes her time excavating what happened and is happening, and much of it hinges on love. The writing is really beautiful, and I absolutely loved it. I will probably read it again before I return it to the library. I hope many of you read it!
Thank you, Trisha. Two books you really enjoyed this week. Makes for a nice reading week, doesn’t it?
Trisha, thank you for recommending The Book of Love. It sounds like something I would enjoy, so I just ordered it from Abe Books ($4.49 and no shipping!). Since it’s 640 pages, I didn’t want to get it through the library and have to keep renewing it (if I could). I’ll pick just the right time to read it.
I can’t wait to hear what you think, Marjorie!
Ack, I messed up your name, sorry! You can tell it is past my bedtime.
Happy Anniversary!! Happy Thursday at Lesa’s, and Happy New Year, everyone. I wish you all good things for this year, including some books you love.
I read 123 books in 2025. This was down from 138 books read in 2024.
It’s still a lot of books; i know that. But. My ability to concentrate was hampered by the state of things, and that interfered with my reading.
If things continue as they are, my 2026 reading list is going to take another drop.
Here it is January 8th, and I’ve only read one book.
The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill
A #ReadWithJenna book club pick following an Irish American family with three adult sisters returning home to Long Island to face tension-filled dinners, ghosts from their pasts, and family secrets in a gripping novel full of biting wit and profound heart
It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back and eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother.
When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family reunion will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive one another—and themselves.
I know, Kaye. It’s been a rough year already. I hope it improves, and we can all get back to relatively normal lives.
I have The Irish Goodbye on my TBR list. I’m just waiting for our new branch library to open on Saturday.
Congratulations, Lesa! Quite the accomplishment as so many blogs have come and gone.
I read two books this week.
The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase started out very slow for me but by the time I reached the end, I couldn’t put it down. It was a dual narrative story. In Notting Hill, 1998 Dee Parker a widowed single mom leaves her apartment and does not return night after night. Her 17-year-old daughter Maggie is left in charge of her challenging little 6-year-old brother, Kit. Because Dee is famous Maggie is reluctant to go to the police or trust her mother’s circle of friends for fear of the press. She does have an ally in Wolf, an amateur boxer who works at his uncle’s antiques store. A stranger begins lurking around asking questions, so Wolf seemingly takes matters into his own hands. Flash forward to 2018 where the new owner of the Parker house decides to build a basement and secrets begin to come out. I enjoyed this one enough that I will look for more of Eve Chase’s books.
It is hard to describe my second book. The style of writing was very different, but I found myself hooked. In The Conditions of Will by Jessa Hastings, Georgia Carter has been banished to England by her conservative religious family when she was 15. She has since become a body language expert working towards degrees in psychology. When her father suddenly dies, she returns to South Carolina and her dysfunctional family for the reading of the will. There she has an immediate connection to her brother’s sober coach. Everything pretty much unravels after that. I really enjoyed the parts where Georgia explains how she knows when people are lying and what their underlying emotions are, but I also thought lots of it were over the top. And I was disappointed (only because it was so predictable) when her father’s secret was revealed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.
We finished watching the Harlan Coben Run Away series on Netflix as well as Nightsleeper on Britbox but are anxiously awaiting the return of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS Sunday.
Spring weather in the 60’s this afternoon so we will be out taking a walk.
Happy Reading!
You’re right, Sharon. And one of my friends who started blogging when I did had totally moved on in her reading, and seldom even reads fiction anymore. Shocking! (Only half kidding.)
My resolution for this year was to read more, but I also want to watch more British shows. All Creatures Great and Small is wonderful.
Congratulations on 21 years of blogging! That’s quite an accomplishment.
We are still lacking snow in Idaho. The ski areas are making their snow so that they can skiers up there. We had a big storm come through last night but we got zip in the valley.
This week, I finished reading A Bride’s Guide to Happiness and Homicide by Kristen Bird.
I received a copy via NetGalley. Here’s the description.
When Dakota Green’s best friend asks her to be the maid of honor, she expects champagne toasts and bouquet tosses—not a dead priest in the holly bushes of The Rose Palace estate. But in Aubergine, Virginia, something borrowed and something blue might just include a corpse or two.
A winter getaway in the Blue Ridge Mountains should be wonderland bliss for pre-wedding festivities. Instead, it’s a blizzard of suspicion as the groom’s Texas relatives arrive with secrets as deep as the falling snow.
Just when Dakota thinks she can’t handle one more wedding disaster, the officiating priest takes a fatal plunge from the fourth floor, with a bullet through his heart and Dakota’s boyfriend Sheriff Charlie Strong becomes the prime suspect.
With Charlie behind bars and the wedding hours away, Dakota must clear his name while ensuring her best friend gets her perfect day. Between a gun-wielding father of the groom, a scandalous romance and a bride who refuses to postpone, Dakota faces her greatest challenge yet. Can she unmask a killer before the wedding march? Or will this matrimony end in mayhem?
If you love the humor of Janet Evanovich and Elle Cosimano, the charm of small-town secrets, and amateur sleuths with a flair for finding trouble, this maid-of-honor mystery is your perfect match.
I didn’t find it anywhere as humorous as the Stephanie Plum books and quite frankly, I’m getting a little tired of people billing their books as equivalent to Janet Evanovich’s books. They never seem to close. But I’ve been in a reading slump so maybe this wasn’t the right book for me.
Don’t you sometimes wonder, Bev, if it’s the book or just you? I’m sorry about the reading slump. They’re not always east to get out of.
Huge congratulations to you, Lesa! 21 years! Wow! You were one of the first blogs I followed when I started blogging 16 years ago. I’ve found out about so many wonderful books through you. Here’s to another 21 years!
Thank you so much, Ingrid! You’re probably one of my earliest readers who are still following. Thank you!
Here I am, ;ate as usual – it’s already getting dark here on Deeside.
Many congratulations Lesa! Like everyone else here, I am so glad and grateful that you have kept this going for so long, I can only imagine what a challenge that is at times. These Thursday meet-ups are so valued by us all, esepcially me. Whenever I hear people criticising the USA, I always leap in with ‘the people on Lesa’s blog are NOT like that! They are my friends.’ And it does really feel like friendship to me, even though I’ve never met any of you in person. These Thursdays give shape to my week, and although I have missed a fwe lately, I’m going to make a big effort to keep up in 2026.
This past week has been nothing but snow. Aberdeenshire and much of Northern Scotland has been absolutely battered by it – every day brought more. At one point I went out into the back garden to feed the poor birds, wearing David’s big Wellington boots, and I still plunged into snow up to my thighs. This is not usual for us – the last time I remember walking in snow that deep was in Newfoundland maybe 40 years ago now.
Yesterday we thought the thaw was starting – then last night MORE snow arrived. The BBC says the weather will ‘warm’ up on Sunday (to a balmy 39F…but we take what we can get.) It’ll take quite a while for all the accumulations to disappear; we have cleared our drive and our cars so often that we now have huge banks of snow on each side, in fact we are running out of space to put it!
And we live only 8 miles outside the city; many more remote communities have been cut off, with people unable to get out even in Landrovers and other 4 x 4 vehicles – some of the more able-bodied have been wading through drifts to collect urgent supplies. Many of these villages have a high proportion of elderly residents too.
One of the local farmers came down and cleared our road a couple of days ago, which was very good of him (some farmers have contracts with the local council to be paid for this, but Ian was just doing us all a big favour.)
My husband often comments on the amount of bread I have in the freezer, but this time it paid off! And we do have a Co-Op within walking distance, though as you can imagine it’s been very, very busy and has struggled (valiantly) to keep up with the increased demand. We haven’t suffered at all, although David hates being housebound.
Today was in fact beautiful – brilliant sunshine, blue skies, and the fresh snow on the ground meant much easier walking than when it becomes compacted and icy. We had a wonderful walk to the river, everything looking so pristine and beautiful. So it’s not all bad, but I know i am very lucky to have a nice warm house to come back to and plenty of food in the kitchen.
Books!
I am *still* reading RIVALS (jilly Cooper) but I am on the home stretch now. Not many writers can hold your interest for over 700 pages, but Jilly is so good at it. The various plots rattle along, and although she gives us great descriptions of the country estates, the woodlands, gardens and manor houses, the reader never feels bogged down in endless pages of ‘filler.’
I am also about to finish Lucy Mangan’s fantastic BOOKWISE, which is the sequel to her BOOKWORM. That was about her childhood reading and her life with her bibliophile father, her super practical mother and her equally non-bookish sister. Bookwise continues the story through senior school, university, a brief and boring career as a solicitor, then a job in Waterstones and eventually working – as she still does – as a jounalist at The Guardian.
I see so much of myself in Mangan; she was/is an introverted, obsessive reader who can’t see why anyone would waste reading time on much else. Her reading is eclectic and she despises literary snobbery just as much as I do. So, although she has a Cambridge degree in English, she sings the praises of Jacqueline Susann and Norah Lofts, and of the many 1970s children’s authors she loves, such as Ursula Le Guin, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Eve Garnett (one of my own great favourites.)
She reads ‘literary’ fiction as well, of course – she reads anything and everything. During her first week of work experience at the newspaper, a man passed by during her lunch break and said, in a tone of disgust, ‘What ARE you reading?’ It was Dan Brown’s DA VINCI CODE’ and she was rightly furious. A similar thing happened to me – though it wasn’t directed at me – when I worked at the cathedral. The verger was an avid reader, mainly of thrillers. Another member of the clergy team remarked to me ‘have you SEEN what he reads?’ She, of course, only (admitted to) reading very worthy books. Apart from anything else, how boring that must be.
Anyway, Lucy Mangan writes so beautifully, and with so much dry wit, that I am enjoying every single page of this book. She does include a short reading list at the end, but I don’t think it’s comprehensive and I will want to look back and add quite a few others to my TBR. Lucy didn’t marry for some years, then she met her husband at a book launch. He told her he was irritated at having to attend it, as he had a newly hunted-down book about the Suez Crisis at home and he was desperate to start it. She recognised a kindred spirit.
Having become partners, they spent all their holidays in Norfolk visiting second hand bookshops (she laments that many of the tiny, idiosyncratic places they trawled are no more), where they would split up to look at the sections that interested them, meeting up afterwards to show one another their spoils. Then they’d go back to their rented cottage, he would go out to get fish and chips, and after eating they would settle down to an evening’s reading.
When they visited New York for work, they went to the Strand bookshop every single day of their three week stay. They had to buy an extra set of luggage to bring all the books home.
When they got married, they spent their honeymoon not in the Maldives but at Hay on Wye on the Welsh/English border – the ‘book town’ that we ourselves visited last year. Wherever they go, Lucy’s husband Christopher prepares detailed itineraries based entirely on bookshops, though neither of them cares if they wander off to another one not on their list.
it sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? And this is a girl who grew up in Catford (a very unfashionable inner London suburb, at least when i was a child), so everything she has achieved has been very much under her own steam. One of the things she writes for The Guardian is TV reviews. Hers are astute and interesting, but most of all funny.
If you love books about books, and about people who love them, I’d highly recommend both of these books.
On television, while waiting for the next instalment of series 2 of THE NIGHT MANAGER (the BBC seems to have scheduled it very randomly), I have started rewatching the old TV adaptation of TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY. For something made in 1979, it’s amazingly fresh, and Alec Guinness is just brilliant.
Before this we watched an old interview with John Le Carre, who was far more interesting than I had anticipated. He had a bizarre and horrible childhood, then went to Oxford (‘my father knew someone who knew someone’ – that’s how it was so often done in those days, and probably is still. I saw today that one of the Cambridge colleges has set a new policy of recruiting mainly from private (ie fee paying) schools ‘because their pupils are better prepared’ – of course they are! Their parents pay for the prvilege of small classes and extra tutors that children in the state system will never be able to access. Cambridge has for some years now pushed its determination to admit more state school pupils, and most colleges have done so. This is an outrageously retrograde step and wrong on so many levels. Many of the academic staff are appalled, but they have been overruled by the college’s governing body.)
Le Carre was then recruited into MI5 (the intelligence service), where he remained for some years before leaving to write full time.
I am hoping all this white stuff will be gone by next week, as I am out (or should be) every single day, and David is travelling down to Cambridge on Thursday to attend a friend’s birthday party. In the meantime, though, I have to admit I am enjoying staying put.
Which reminds me, has anyone read Annie B Jones’ ORDINARY TIME, which is about her decision to stay in Thomasville, where she grew up, when all her friends were leaving to pursure careers in the city? She runs THE BOOKSHELF shop and also a podcast FROM THE FRONT PORCH, which i enjoy.
Right, time to go. It’s 5.35 pm here and I planned to achieve far more than I have today – too busy reading Lucy Mangan!
Have a great week everyone.
Rosemary, so interesting to read about Lucy Mangan. I’m going to have to at least seek out those two books now for sure! Thank you. I think.
No apologies necessary, Rosemary. I’m sometimes appalled at what I notice a few days later on my blog. When my sister, Christie, catches a mistake, she lets me know, and I appreciate it. I don’t like to see the mistakes I make.
Lucy Mangan. My new library branch opens tomorrow, and I’m going to have to check to see if the system carries her books. I haven’t placed any holds since I’ve been back from Christmas. With my branch closed, they moved holds to another branch. I’d just rather wait until I can get them in Canal Winchester again.
I’ve watched some interesting Ohio documentaries on YouTube the last couple weeks. I stumbled on them when I was looking for Christmas music. One was about the blizzard of ’78 in Ohio, still one people talk about. The one I watched today was on a tornado, an F4, in 1924 that totally changed two northern Ohio communities. Just fascinating.
I hope you get a break from the snow Rosemary. David will go stir crazy, and you have places to go. Stay safe!
Oh dear, apologies for all the typos!
I very much enjoyed INSIDE MAN. I hope we get a third book in the series. This is an author, IMO, that does not get the recognition he should and deserves. All his series are good.
Current read is THE POLITICIAN by Tim Sullivan.
I’m starting The Inside Man today, Kevin. I was sidetracked by the news. (sigh)